No Time to Be Sick

a story about health equity in

Seattle, Washington

Health Care Access and Quality

Housing

Income Security

Systemic Oppression

African American

Children and Youth

Latino

Low Income

Women

Calling in sick is all too often a luxury families cannot afford. Monica Bryant faced that dilemma after spending all night in the emergency room with her young son, and then reporting to work for her 7:00 a.m. shift at a Seattle, Washington, Safeway store. She was far too tired and worried about her son’s recent seizure to focus on her job in the meat department where she works with sharp slicers. But the rent was due and she knew she could not pay if she didn’t report to work.

Millions of other families face that same no-win situation every day. Income insecurity directly affects their health, the health of their families and that of others with whom they come in contact. In fact, studies show that lower paid, hourly wage earning families suffer greater health risks due to workplace hazards, stress, lack of access to healthy food and more severe cases of contagious diseases like colds and the flu.

The same holds true for workplaces. Low-wage workers are at greater risk of being infected by their co-workers – unintentionally – as they all share the risk of coming to work with infectious illnesses. The severity of those illnesses may also be higher because low-wage workers cannot take time off to rest.

Paid sick leave is not, of course, the only reason for disparate health outcomes among lower-income people and people of color. Many lack health insurance and could not afford to pay for care even if they could afford to take time off for a doctor’s appointment. Living in conditions that are not conducive to good health – communities where it is impossible to get affordable, healthy food or housing that exacerbates illnesses like allergies also increase the likelihood of poor health. Together, all these economic factors – factors that are the direct result of policy decisions made by state and federal governments. When lawmakers refuse to mandate a living wage, or invest in safe, decent affordable housing, or require a humane paid sick leave policy, they are laying the groundwork for economic hardships that directly affects the health of Americans like Monica and her son.